Heavy rainfall and flooding in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi left at least 12 people dead on Sunday. The floodwater ravaged the city's zoo, destroying enclosures, killing many animals, and setting others free into the streets of Tbilisi. Tigers, lions, bears, wolves, and at least one hippopotamus escaped—some quickly recaptured, others still unaccounted for, as the search continues.
Zoo Animals Escape Amid Heavy Flooding in Tbilisi, Georgia
- Alan Taylor
- June 14, 2015
- 14 Photos
- In Focus
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A man shoots a tranquilizer dart to put an escaped hippopotamus to sleep on a flooded street in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / Reuters -
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Rescuers work among debris in a flooded street in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 14, 2015. #
Irakli Gedenidze / Reuters -
A bear tries to save itself from a flooded zoo area in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / AP -
A man tries to save a bird from a flooded zoo in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / AP -
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A man gestures to an escaped hippopotamus in a flooded street in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / Reuters -
A hippopotamus walks across flooded street in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / Reuters -
People assist a hippopotamus that has been shot with a tranquilizer dart after it escaped from a flooded zoo in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Tinatin Kiguradze / AP -
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A man directs a hippopotamus after it was shot with a tranquilizer dart on a flooded street in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / Reuters -
A tranquilized hippopotamus lies on the ground behind bars inside the zoo in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Tinatin Kiguradze / AP -
An animal escaped from a flooded zoo stands in mud inside the zoo in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Tinatin Kiguradze / AP -
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Members of the fire team work on a fire-engine stacked among debris in a flooded street in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / Reuters -
The body of a bear lies in a flooded zoo area in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Shakh Aivazov / AP -
People walk around a damaged area near a flooded zoo in Tbilisi on June 14, 2015. #
Shakh Aivazov / AP -
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A wounded swan in a flooded zoo area in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 14, 2015. #
Beso Gulashvili / AP
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